2 FLY-FISHING. 



as pass through their own districts shall he open or 

 closed for salmon-fishing. So that a river in one 

 county opens and closes much earlier than the same 

 river in the adjoining county does, the magistrates of 

 the two counties making different arrangements for 

 the very same river. 



The principal salmon-fishing, in Wales, at present 

 consists in killing old fish in the spring, on their way 

 hack to the sea, after having spawned, at a time when 

 they are perfectly useless and wholly unfit for food. 

 Indeed, many are so weak at that time, that they die 

 from exhaustion and fatigue before they reach the 

 sea; hut if those that were strong enough were al- 

 lowed to return to the sea, they would come hack to 

 the river again in a month or six weeks in beautiful 

 condition, and with their weight nearly doubled. The 

 fry of the salmon is also daily destroyed by the fly- 

 fishermen in Wales, who do not seem to be aware 

 that by so doing they are greatly injuring the rivers 

 as salmon rivers. 



The salmon-fishing in Scotland* is of first-rate 

 order, and great pains have been taken for the pre- 



* See Appendix, L. 



